Genealogy News · Source Interpretation · Published on 2026-10-06

Huaining Leibou Hao Clan Ancestral Hall: Architectural Remains and Family Memory

The Leibou Hao Clan Ancestral Hall is located in Haoshan Village, Leibou Township, Huaining County, Anqing, Anhui Province. Existing records address its construction during the Qing dynasty, architectural layout, ancestral-hall functions, and subsequent repairs. The date of its initial construction, the timing of renovations, branch genealogies, and related figures still require further verification against genealogies, local gazetteers, and field materials.

The Leibou Hao Clan Ancestral Hall is located in Haoshan Village, Leibou Township, Huaining County, Anqing, Anhui Province, and is an important public building preserved by the local Hao clan. Existing materials regard it as a place for ancestor worship, remembrance of worthy forebears, and moral education within the clan, while also reflecting the ancestral hall’s multiple functions in rural society, including family rituals, cultural transmission, and public interaction. In accounts of its historical value, local descriptions often associate it with the Hao community in the Anqing area and with family memory, but specific branch relationships should still be cross-checked against genealogies and local documents.

There are currently differing accounts of the building’s date. One account holds that the ancestral hall was built during the Kangxi to Qianlong periods of the Qing dynasty; another regards the thirteenth year of the Qianlong reign, namely 1748, as the date of a renovation or major construction project; some materials also indicate that the date of its initial construction remains difficult to establish with certainty. Accordingly, the more cautious formulation is that the surviving architectural form and historical accounts are associated with the Qing dynasty, and that 1748 may have been an important milestone in its development, but it cannot be concluded from this alone that the entire building was first constructed in that year.

In terms of layout, the ancestral hall is described as having a main hall with multiple successive sections and a courtyard at the front. It originally included ancillary spaces such as side rooms and covered corridors on both sides, forming an overall rectangular plan and employing local traditional building techniques, including small bricks, gray tiles, timber components, and carved ornamentation. A stone plaque reading “Hao Clan Ancestral Hall” remains above the building, while descriptions related to the main gate also mention the words “Old Taiyuan Lineage.” Such information concerning hall names, ancestral origins, or plaques carries significance for clan identity, but the wording alone cannot establish that the Leibou Hao clan belongs to the same lineage as every Hao branch that identifies with Taiyuan commandery. The surname is widely distributed, and specific connections still require examination of migration records, generation names, founding ancestors, and genealogical succession.

According to records, the ancestral hall also served as a school for a period, indicating that its functions extended beyond ancestor worship. In 2006, villagers in Haoshan undertook the rebuilding or repair of the relevant buildings and made efforts to preserve the original layout and components. Regarding local Hao figures and their relationship to the ancestral hall and the village, folk accounts include descriptions such as “famed performers in Hui opera troupes,” but the individuals’ biographies, clan affiliations, and periods of activity should still be checked item by item against biographies, newspapers and periodicals, genealogies, or local gazetteers.

For further genealogical research, the surviving buildings, stone inscriptions and plaques, and worship records may be compared with Hao genealogies, online genealogies, and family memoirs, together with Huaining local gazetteers and regional historical materials, to trace the Hao clan’s migration routes, branch distribution, and the history of the ancestral hall’s property. If genealogical prefaces from different periods, genealogy-revision records, lists of donors, or renovation inscriptions can be found, they may help clarify the ancestral hall’s history. However, before the evidence forms a complete chain, it is advisable to treat the relevant conclusions as local memories or leads awaiting verification.

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